


"A Thousand Times"

by Musical_Lasagna



Category: They Both Die at the End - Adam Silvera, Watership Down (Cartoon 2018), Watership Down - Richard Adams
Genre: Death, F/M, Holly didn't deserve to die, I was pleasantly surprised by how much I loved these two in the miniseries, I wrote this for a final and my prof said it was good so here we are, Romance, They Both Die At The End - Freeform, comments welcome, even if theyre to tell me im a shithead lmao, god please give me feedback, if you're put off by crossovers like i am pls let me explain, its a good book, made me cry, read that book, the book
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-18
Updated: 2020-08-18
Packaged: 2021-03-06 05:02:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,220
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25977904
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Musical_Lasagna/pseuds/Musical_Lasagna
Summary: Hello! Thank you for stopping to read, I appreciate it! This story was written as a final for my Young Adult Lit. course and is a crossover with "They Both Die at the End" by Adam Silvera, which I happily recommend. If you haven't read it, all you need to know is I've taken the Deathcast plot device, a service which anticipates and informs you of your death, and put it onto the Black Rabbit as a means of giving more voice to Holly's death in the miniseries. It didn't need to happen :( so I thought it would be fun and cathartic to explore. Please let me know what you think in the comments below! Thank you!
Relationships: Holly/Hyzenthlay
Comments: 4
Kudos: 4





	"A Thousand Times"

**Author's Note:**

> Hello! Thank you for stopping to read, I appreciate it! This story was written as a final for my Young Adult Lit. course and is a crossover with "They Both Die at the End" by Adam Silvera, which I happily recommend. If you haven't read it, all you need to know is I've taken the Deathcast plot device, a service which anticipates and informs you of your death, and put it onto the Black Rabbit as a means of giving more voice to Holly's death in the miniseries. It didn't need to happen :( so I thought it would be fun and cathartic to explore. Please let me know what you think in the comments below! Thank you!

_Fu Fuléao,_ After dawn

Sunlight streamed through the tall beech tree that alighted the top of the down and warmed the backs of the rabbits playing and chatting at _silflay_. It had been two days since Hazel and his band rescued the group of Efrafan does, and now all were busy becoming acquainted and enjoying the spring.

One rabbit, however, upon greeting the early morning with a slow blink, found himself suddenly overcome with a cold, invisible mist that filled his once warm burrow. He felt the presence of another beside him and, not recognizing the warmth of Hyzenthlay’s side, started upward with a jolt.

“There’s no need for alarm, Captain, you know me.” The dark figure spoke with kindness. Yes, Holly knew who this was.

“Are you truly— Surely this isn’t right?”

“I’m afraid so,” The Black Rabbit of Inlé shook herself carefully, before delivering the words Holly was sure he wouldn’t hear for another few seasons, “I regret to inform you, Captain, that in three days you’ll be meeting your end.” She spoke with eerie finality.

“Do you know how? When? Please, I need time.”

“Three days, Captain.” The Black Rabbit stood and smiled, Holly hated the comfort he felt in it, the sincerity. He blinked away the heavy tears that clouded his sight, but before he could utter a word she was gone. The cold lifted and Holly was left in shattering silence.

_Ni-Frith,_ Noon

The sunlight held no warmth, and the _flay_ held no flavor. _What a strange and beautiful day to die_ , Holly thought. With everyone safe from Efrafa there was no danger, but still, he felt a bare, trembling fear in the pit of his belly that told him otherwise. _It’s a story marli tell their kittens, surely. Sometimes rabbits just die._ He couldn’t be sure. What he _was_ sure of, was his wish to be with Hyzenthlay before the Black Rabbit came for him again. When the terrifying thought occurred to him that she might have been visited as well, he struck it down, though it lightened his feet in his quick run through the warren to find her. In his search, he instead knocked heads with the seer of the warren, and feared he’d done the kit harm when Fiver lay too motionless in the narrow run.

“Fiver, excuse me, lad, you alright?” Fiver’s nose twitched and he rose to stand in a nervous, shaky motion. When Fiver caught his eyes, the stare Holly met was clouded in fear—almost tharn—and the young buck spoke with a trembling, hasty voice.

“Captain, have you seen Hazel? Where is he? Vilthuril couldn’t find him and Bigwig doesn’t know. _Oh_ ,” Fiver groaned and scratched at his head viciously, “ _can you feel it, Holly_? The Black Rabbit, she’s been _here_ , Holly. _Everywhere_.”

Holly was nearly accustomed to Fiver’s visions, but the mention of the Black Rabbit’s name left him shaking in fear, too. When his time came, because everyone knew she visited in the morning, the braver ones had told their stories, he thought he’d be ready. He had actually hoped it was a trick, how could he be so foolish? If a seer could feel her presence, if Fiver could parse from the air the chilling, foreboding claw of death, there was no other alternative left for Holly to believe.

He was going to die.

_Thanléao_ , evening

Blackavar smelled them first, or Haystack, whichever, it didn’t matter. The Efrafans were laying siege to the down. This is how they were going to die.

After his encounter with Fiver, Holly feverishly sought a meeting with Hazel and Bigwig. They spent most of the day covering their tracks in the surrounding wood, but it was too late. They’d been found. The General was here, and if Hazel’s audience with him was worth its weight in _hraka_ then he would be true to his word and not kill them outright. They had a chance; _Holly_ had a chance. 

Holly had searched again for Hyzenthlay, desperately shuffling in and out of every burrow he could reach, before finding her in the burrow of one of the Efrafan refugees. Though he apologized for the intrusion and turned to leave, the two quieted him, and the other doe left with a sad smile.

He’d talked with Hyzenthlay talked before, back when the morning wasn’t the calm before the storm and Holly thought his visitation was a bad dream. But he couldn’t bring himself to tell her just then, not when she was in the sunshine and so close.

“Have you heard?” Hyzenthlay went down the run ahead of them after quickly nuzzling Holly, “The Efrafans are here, the General’s on a war path, Holly. I’m sorry I couldn’t find you, we’ve all been keeping an eye on Nahlayhain—she says she was visited by the Black Rabbit.” Hyzenthlay stopped at the entrance to the Honeycomb and looked at her companion tiredly.

“You can feel it. Can’t you, Hyzenthlay?”

“Yes, we all can.”

They sat in silence, side by side. Holly thought she looked tired but he didn’t want the moment to end. But he needed to tell her. Soon.

“Can we go to my burrow? Please.” Hyzenthlay gave him a surprised look but only nodded. Holly led them away to the Owsla’s run and carefully sank to the floor.

“Holly? Dear, are you alright?” Hyzenthlay leaned up against him. He pushed down the urge to hide and met her eyes openly.

“I was visited this morning, I— I don’t have long.”

She didn’t gasp. Or faint. Or worse, like Holly’s worst imaginations told him she would. She only stared at him and beyond. Feeling, he could guess, for the secret river that runs through the heart of every rabbit and carries the truth in its channels. She wasn’t a seer, but she was close. He knew she would also feel that claw that hung so low over him.

“Holly. _Love_.” She nuzzled close to him.

_Fu Inlé_ , moonrise

Dying was a strangely familiar experience, Holly hated every second of it. The thrashing of claws and teeth that bit into and tore him apart weren’t half as bad, however, as Hyzenthlay’s screams. Though they meant her safety, Holly felt his own heart break as he struggled to focus on the feel of her fur next to his and the twitch of her nose when he nuzzled close to her in these past few mornings.

He would miss her, wherever he was going.

All at once, the kicking stopped. The claw that tore him open vanished and were replaced by a cooling, familiar air of kindness. Holly held his eyes closed tightly, he was afraid to open them and meet new surroundings.

“Holly, _Captain_ , I’ve come to ask you to join my Owsla. I think you’ll have a marvelous time.” The Black Rabbit spoke freely now, and the starlight in her eyes looked on him almost maternally.

“But the others, I’ve got to defend my run. Hyzenthlay is there. She’s having—”

“They’ll be fine, Captain. You’ve done well here.” She stood over him now, and turned to leap away. “Come.”

With renewed strength, Holly jumped to his feet and followed the Black Rabbit of Inlé into the mist. He couldn’t hear Hyzenthlay, but he would be waiting for her wherever he went.

**Author's Note:**

> Special thanks to the Bits n' Bobstones site for their extended work on the Lapine language. Truly Frith's work. And thanks to my professor, who will never see this, but I tearfully appreciate her giving me an A.


End file.
